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Sam reveals points target ‘certain’ to keep Sunderland up

Sam Allardyce: Says Sunderland are now performing consistently

Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce has set his side a points target he is confident will keep the club in the Premier League.

Sunderland climbed out of the relegation zone on goal difference on Tuesday evening when Fabio Borini’s late strike secured a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace, but they remain deep in trouble and needing, in their manager’s estimation, five wins or the equivalent from their final 10 games to stay up.

Allardyce said: “That would be great. It would be our best run of the season, putting together five wins in 10 games. It could be four wins, three draws, however we can get to 38 points, which is certainly, I think, going to be enough this year.

“I hope we can achieve it. If we can go on a miraculous run and achieve more, that would make life even more pleasurable for us coming towards the last few games.

“But I certainly think we are all going to be getting ready to bite our nails again. I think it is going to go right to the wire, so we will need to be biting our nails.

“I hope I’m wrong, but it looks like that is going to be the case and if that’s the case, if we can hold our nerve, I certainly think we have got the talent to get out of trouble.”

Sunderland, Newcastle United and Norwich City are locked together on 24 points with a spread of four goals separating the three clubs above basement boys Aston Villa, and with Swansea City and Bournemouth having made significant steps forward in midweek, that quartet is in danger of being cast adrift.

Allardyce said: “We are in a position now where we are fighting against the other three. It’s looking like it’s going to be any three out of that four and we have got to make sure that we are at the top of that little league table at the end of the season.

“Whether we can drag anybody else in…it means one of us will have to go on a three or four-game winning streak to even claw those boys back to us, so it looks like any one out of the four of us is going to be the one which survives.”